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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Where is Embracing Ember?

I know what your thinking- Where is Embracing Ember? Well, editing got behind because I worked sooooo many hours this last schedule and then I also got sick. It was a late flu season around here.

After I got over being ill, I thought about some of the things in the book and the characters did a dance on my brain and somethings had to be rewritten. But here is a small teaser until I can get the rest of it done - which (cross your fingers) should be out at the end of March.

So here goes.... Chapte 1 of Embracing Ember....

Everyone always said not
to go toward the light.Ember took that
advice to heart as she cowered in the dark, praying for the pain to stop.Her mind insisted on reliving every hit and
punch.She remembered the pitying looks,
how everyone would shake their head as if she were too stupid to get out of a
no win situation.Leaving had become her
goal because she knew one day that he would kill her. Ember was many things but
she had never considered herself stupid.She could picture in her mind telling those people who would pity her,
that she knew she needed to leave and that she planned on doing so, but preservation
of life and limb had her waiting.Did he love her?Of that she had no doubt.She believed he loved her, probably too much,
in his own twisted sense of love.But
how do you leave someone who isn’t willing to let you go and is willing to
persuade you from your choice in sadistic and painful ways?

Her mind focused on the frenzied sounds around her, the
wail of a siren and the deep timbre of a male voice that spoke to her while he
was moving, poking and prodding her.She
found that while his ministrations exacerbated the pain his deep and even voice
that reassured her that he was here to help aided to calm her.She felt like a weighted piece of lead, like
her only senses were that of touch, which she wished would fade, and the sense
of hearing that only added to her confusion.The fog that wouldn’t seem to lift became almost a comforting thought,
at least here she didn’t worry about escaping her cruel tormenter, and he
wasn’t here.She let go of everything
and just listened to the person assuring her she would be okay.

“ALS unit 4, to Trinity Heart ER.” The mysterious voice
stated, his calm voice never faltering even as the siren wailing sometimes
broke into Ember’s peaceful fog.A
static from a radio and then the female voice responded, “Trinity Heart ER, go
ahead unit 4.”

The deep, male timbre responding, “Be advised
transporting one time emergency status with a twenty-three year old female
victim of alleged domestic abuse.Multiple bruises and lacerations noted all over the body.Patient is unconscious and was found
unconscious on scene and not reactive to painful stimuli.Head trauma apparent with bruising noted to
face.Patient was placed on spine board
and C-collar on scene.Blood noted
draining from ear and nose. Vitals are: blood pressure 78 palpable, heart rate
of 112 showing sinus tach on cardiac monitor with not ectopic beats noted,
respirations are 12 and shallow with bilateral chest wall movement, oxygen
saturation was ninety percent on room air applied patient to non-rebreather with
an increase to one hundred percent O2 sat. Temp 97.2 and blood sugar of 85. Two
14 gauge IV’s started to both AC’s with Normal Saline infusing at bolus rate Estimated ETA of 2-3 minutes.Do you require any further?”

The static followed his report about a girl and Ember’s sluggish
brain didn’t piece together that she was that girl, broken and battered.The static of the radio broke into her
musings of sympathy for the unknown girl whose condition was so bad and the
disembodied female voice stated, “That’s a check unit 4.Trauma bay 2 on arrival.Has the suspect been apprehended?”

“Negative.One
police escort will be arriving with us.Trauma bay two on arrival.Pulling
into your facility now.”The jarring
movement of her body caused pain to shoot through her, her body refusing to
allow her to cry out.She retreated into
the darkness that taunted her with its blissful unconsciousness.Ember sent a silent prayer to anyone who was
listening that the girl who was dying would be okay as she accepted the heavenly
peace of nothingness, never realizing she’d have to relive her worst nightmare.

He had messed up,
finally.She stared in disbelief at the
car keys that he normally took with him and with it her chance at freedom.Ember ran to the bedroom and shoved a few things
into a duffel bag.She was out of
here.Where would she go?She didn’t know, but she did know that it
would be out of this hell-hole.Her eye
still sported the multi-color bruising from his last beating over a meatloaf
that didn’t look like he thought it should.He had fooled her before.When
she was sixteen and a lonely little orphan girl, he gave her the attention she
so desperately wanted and needed. Landon was beautiful, his blond hair and blue
eyes only added to the innocent and angelic face his genetics gave him. He had spent time with her and listened to
her.He was always gentle and never
raised his voice at her.She fell in
love deep and fast and when she turned eighteen she agreed to marry him.At the time she was ecstatic and the first
few days of marriage she was the happiest she had ever been.She had a home and a man to love and to love
her.What could possibly go wrong?Everything.

About
a week after marrying him she had washed some of his laundry.She didn’t fold his clothing the way that he
should.He yelled at her, but didn’t hit
her.When she served supper and his
roast was a little over cooked, he threw the plate at her.She had started to cry, but she learned to
never cry again, at least not where he could see.He had grabbed her by her hair and yelled at
her, telling her how worthless she was.He called her names and then used his fist to make sure she never forgot
how worthless she was.His once angelic
face transforming into a mask of rage.He dragged her to the bedroom by her hair and raped her for the first
time.The next morning he told her how
sorry he was, and that he’d forever be regretful.He made excuse after excuse and she naively
believed him. After the first year he quit apologizing.After the second she knew she didn’t love him
and attempted to leave.He had broken
her legs and taken her to the emergency room, making her recite the story of
how she fell down the stairs.When he
decided she didn’t look battered enough from that story, he broke an arm to be
sure.She didn’t cry, her tears only
ensured that she would be beaten more.

The
nurse and doctor’s all knew.They tried
to get her to tell them the truth, but she knew he’d only find a way to kill
her before the police were able to stop him, so she vehemently denied the
doctor and nurse’s accusations and reassured them that she indeed fallen down
the stairs.He was of course furious
that they had separated her from him to ask questions.He had grabbed her hair in his fist and
assured her death if she had been telling lies.Her face was impassive when she assured him that she wouldn’t tell
lies.He released the painful grip on
her hair and put on the mask of the angel she had fallen in love with when the
nurse walked back in with instructions about taking care of her casts.The nurse attempted on last time to get Ember
to tell the truth, to give a plea for help.Ember knew better.Landon had
reacted to her attempt at leaving him with an iron fist.He locked her in the house when he left for
work, taking each vehicles car keys.She
had to quit her job in the art department of an advertising agency.Six months into her new prison life she
discovered she could work online as book cover creator and children’s book
illustrator.Thankfully the equipment
was available at her disposal and she hid her tracks well, getting paid in an
account he had no knowledge of and doing all of her business on the
internet.With the growing popularity of
paperless transactions, she watched as her savings grew and planned for the day
she could leave him.

With
that dream becoming a reality she unlocked the locks keeping her prisoner and
felt her hope dwindle into fear.He had
come back.Her heart skipped a few beats
at his malicious smile.The abuse
started as it always did, with hits and kicks.He raped her like he always did, her beaten body protesting his vicious
violation of her body.Then he decided
he would teach her further lessons with a knife.The slices seemed to go on forever and her
consciousness slipped away taking her to another place where she could
hide.Where she could cry and know he
wouldn’t punish her for her tears.

***

Ceylon looked around the very sterile looking healthcare
center that he was currently touring with one of Earth’s healers, known as
doctors.The older black man was several
inches short of Ceylon’s six foot five height.He was an athletically built male with ebony skin to Ceylon’s long
corded muscular appearance and deep, scarlet skin.Ceylon would be considered a doctor here on
Earth, but where their healthcare system worked mostly with healers, the earthen
system had many different types of healers.There was the doctor who could specialize in many different things, the
nurse like Eon and Kylan’s mates, medical lab technicians that analyzed the
specimens sent to them, the x-ray technicians that used the machines that
utilized radiation to take internal pictures of the patient and so many
others.While their technology helped
them to fight infectious disease with better success than that of Salin,
traumatic injuries and genetic disorders still eluded their healing
capacity.Of course they could treat
traumatic injuries, but they couldn’t completely reverse the damage.Just this morning he was shown the progress
made with a little girl who was given a ten percent chance of survival after a
car accident and had survived but would never walk again and her brain injury
had been so severe that she would suffer from mental retardation.

Ceylon was still surprised at how well they were received
by Earthlings when the party sent from Salin arrived here about a year
ago.Of course at first they were poked
and prodded to ensure no diseases would be transmitted to the general
population and they still had escorts for their safety.There were still some humans who didn’t
embrace them and sought to end their existence.The many vaccinations that they endured hadn’t been the best experience
either.Ceylon was interrupted from his
musings when the Dr. Langston said, “They are bringing a domestic abuse victim
to Trauma bay two.Would you like to see
how we work a trauma here at Trinity Heart?”

Ceylon nodded and followed to the door of a room labeled
Trauma Bay 2.He watched in interest as
the people were gathered garbed in gowns and masks each watching the doors of
emergency entrance as if waiting for something.Ceylon didn’t understand what domestic abuse was, but he waited in
silence with Dr. Langston.A few moments
later the telltale red lights of their emergency transport vehicles flashed as
the ambulance backed into the bay.The
crowd parted and people began to take their places as the doors slid open
revealing two emergency medical staff wheeling in a stretcher.Ceylon allowed them and the other members of
the trauma team to go in before coming into the bay.His breath caught in his throat at her
appearance, his heart skipping a few beats as his world seemed to narrow on the
pale female with the red hair.He took a
deep breath and tuned into the chaos that surrounded him as they attempted to
save the female’s life.Everything in
Ceylon begged him to save this female, to protect her.Ceylon slid beside Dr. Langston before
asking, “What exactly happened to the female?”

Dr. Langston looked at him in confusion before
explaining, “She was beaten by her husband then he decided to cut her with a
kitchen knife.”

Ceylon couldn’t believe his ears.This females mate had purposefully beat her
within inches of life.Even Ceylon could
tell that she was barely clinging to life as the trauma team rushed to change
her fate.Before he realized what he was
doing he stated, “I can save her.”

Dr. Langston looked over at him in question while the
team worked as if he hadn’t just stated a life-altering statement.“What are you talking about?”Dr. Langston asked, disbelief saturating
every word.

“I know it sounds unbelievable to you, but on Salin
almost no one dies from traumatic injury.I will concede that your technologies are far superior to infectious
disease, but we have developed a scanner that will heal her injuries entirely
within twenty-four hours.I only ask
that I get that chance.I believe your
healthcare system will greatly benefit from this shared technology.”He said with his entire being hanging on the
edge for his answer.Ceylon didn’t
understand why it was so important for him to save this female, but he knew
that he had to.It felt as if his life
depended on it.He savagely stamped down
the memories of his beloved mate, Ashwin and her horrible death to the blue
death that had savaged his home planet, the entire reason behind his party’s
journey to Earth.Their planet needed
females for the continuation of their species.When Eon and Kylan had brought back their mates the entire planet
rejoiced, especially when they learned of the impending births of two Earthling
and Salinian children.Kylan had
explained that although there were a few differences between Earthlings and
Salinians that they were basically the same species and therefore a Salinian
was an Earthling and vice versa.

Ceylon had nearly drowned in his grief when he helped to
take care of Eon’s mate, Serenity when she contracted the Blue Death.She was nearing the end of her existence when
Kylan’s mate, Anna determined that she must be immune to the deadly
disease.At the insistence of his mate,
Kylan had changed Serenity’s treatment and ultimately saved Serenity.When the opportunity came from the Council to
go to Earth, Ceylon jumped at the chance to escape the reminders of his loss.

Dr. Langston sighed before stating, “Look, Ceylon, I’m
going to be honest with you.It looks
really bad for her, so that is why I’m going to allow you this, that and the
government has been pressuring all of us to try and see if you had any secrets
to impart.What do we need to do?”

Ceylon wasn’t shocked that the government wanted things
from his home planet, in truth, Ceylon and his fellow Salinians were expecting
to get the one thing they had lost, females.Ceylon nodded before stating, “I need her ready for transport to one of
our ships.”

Dr. Langston shook his head before answering, “That isn’t
possible.I can’t allow you to leave
with her.”Ceylon had expected this, but
without her coming with him to the scanner on his ship, so he sweetened the
deal with the good doctor.

“I understand that, but she has to come with me to my
ship for the equipment.I also
understand that she is under your care, therefore it is prudent that you
accompany me to my ship to see firsthand our technology.” Ceylon replied.

Dr. Langston nodded before announcing to the trauma team,
“Everyone please stabilize the patient to the best of your ability without
leaving this room and ready her for transport to the Salinian ship.Tell EMS to get me a unit STAT.”There were several yelled concerns, but Ceylon
ignored them taking out his communicator.After their first encounters with the different types of communication
devices, several of the scientist and engineers of his planet had come up with
their communicators.It worked similarly
to the Earthlings cellular phones, but didn’t require satellites or towers for
successful communication.

“I need transport for three people, one Salinian and two
earthlings.We are coming in with a
female who has been gravely injured.Please prepare the scanner.”Ceylon replied.When the voice on
the communicator stated he understood the instructions and assured that his
transport would be swift.He watched
with baited breath as the trauma team continued to stabilize her.What
made this female so important?

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About Me

Astrid Cielo is a Mississippi girl who enjoys a variety of things. By night, she is a nurse in her local ER, and by day, she is spilling her imagination out on paper.

Astrid began writing when she was a child her stories featuring a variety of characters (including her imaginary friends). When she was in high school she wrote her first completed story and was published twice in poetry anthologies. Gathering her courage, Astrid self-published her first book, Surrender Serenity, Salin's Salvation, Book 1 and enjoyed every minute of it.

Now she balances her time between being a nurse (which she loves) and writing down the scenes that play out in her mind. She also plays World of Warcraft (which all of her friends think is weird)!